Air Canada Comments on Proposed Amendments to Bill C-23 as They Relate to the Airline Industry

4 December 2001

Air Canada today provided the following comments
on the tabling of the proposed amendments to Bill C-23 relating to the
Competition Act and the Competition Tribunal Act as they relate to the airline
industry:
“These proposed amendments in effect represent a form of selective
regulation of one private sector company indirectly through the Competition
Act,” said Calin Rovinescu, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
and Strategy. “Air Canada has arrived at its current marketshare as a result
of the failure of one airline in the post-September 11 environment, for
reasons entirely unrelated to Air Canada. These amendments were not tabled
prior to Air Canada`s appearance before the Standing Committee on Industry
last week and therefore Air Canada could not specifically address the proposed
amendments in its presentation. We urge the Government to give Air Canada the
opportunity to address these specific amendments before both the Commons
Standing Committee on Industry and the appropriate Senate Committee,” said
Mr. Rovinescu.

“In recent days and weeks we have seen a number of leading columnists,
economists and independent industry observers criticize the intent of this
proposed legislation. The Commissioner of Competition has explained the need
for these amendments due to the instability in the airline industry. It is
precisely because of the current instability in the industry that such
precipitous and excessive measures are unwarranted, counter-productive and
will have significant negative impact on the Canadian airline industry,”
concluded Mr. Rovinescu.